MIAMI (TCN) – A woman who jumped off a highway overpass after her young twins were found dead in her car in February pleaded not guilty to new charges this week.
WTVJ-TV reports Shirlene Alcime appeared in court Friday, Aug. 23, and entered the plea for two counts of aggravated manslaughter in connection with the deaths of her 3-year-old twins, Milendhet Napoleon-Cadet and Milendhere Napoleon-Cadet. Alcime was first arrested on charges of child neglect causing bodily harm, but the Miami Herald reports prosecutors recently dropped those charges.
On Feb. 2 at around 2 a.m., the Miami-Dade Police Department received a call from a driver who said they found an unresponsive child in a car near the connection between Interstate 95 and the Florida Turnpike. The person called again and said they found a second child, who was also unresponsive. The driver attempted CPR on one of the children.
According to WFOR-TV, Miami-Dade Police Det. Andre Martin said officers arrived at the scene and found Alcime “standing near a railing, and then she went over the railing to the on-ramp onto the railroad tracks, which is a considerable distance.”
Paramedics transported the children to a nearby hospital, where they were pronounced deceased.
The Miami Herald reports the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the twins died from “homicide by unspecified means.”
According to court records cited by WTVJ, Alcime allegedly “admitted to contemplating jumping off the bridge with both victims or throwing them off one by one and then jumping to end their lives.” She reportedly said she had been planning their deaths “due to her current financial status and multiple debts that she owes.”